Selly celebrates with Betty White
For years Doris Selly knew that she shared a birthday with someone famous, but on the day she turned 101, she didn’t think too much about the person who should have turned 100.
“I didn’t think it was that important,” she said about the birthday she shares with Betty White.
Selly planned to keep her birthday low-key this year, although she suspected there would be a cake when she went to dinner in Concordia’s dining room. She also found a cookie outside her door that morning. She’s lived at Concordia for 16 years.
“It’s a good place to live,” she said, “especially when you’re alone.” She’s happy that she no longer has to cook for herself.
She moved to Concordia with her husband, but he died soon after. The couple had moved to Bella Vista in 1980 and settled on the east side after spending most of their adult lives in Kansas.
“He loved to fish and I loved to play bridge,” she said, so Bella Vista was a good fit. They had three children, two stayed in Kansas and one daughter lives in Louisville, Ky.
Selly went to business school in Kansas but only worked for a few years. After she was married, she stayed home with the kids and learned to play bridge. She still plays occasionally, but she also watches a lot of television in recent years.
“It’s been a very good life,” she said, “I had a good husband and good children.”
She doesn’t have a secret for living to an old age.
“Just keep breathing, I guess,” she said.
“It’s been a very good life. I had a good husband and good children.” — Doris Selly